Children International

When it comes to donating for a charity, I'm not usually one to question the cause or even hesitate when coming to actually donating. In fact, for my own dorm, I'm participating in Stache Bash, which is an event where for each day that we don't shave, we get people to sponsor us for those days and contribute an amount per day. The money goes to the South Bend Homeless Center.

But while in Chicago to pick up Krista's parents for Junior Parents Weekend, we were approached by some people on the street who were trying to get people to sign up for Children International. For those of you who don't know, this organization has been in existence for about 78 years if I'm not mistaken. They have bases in several different locations around the world and they help out kids by directly gathering donations and distributing to their participants.

I must have spent a good 30 minutes trying deciphering the information the man was giving me. Yes, on the surface it seemed like a very good cause and something that we should all donate to. The cost of the program is $22/month.

However, the more he kept talking and trying to convince me, the more I became skeptical. I'm going to go through several points that made me uncomfortable to commit to the cause:

1. The fact that they are collecting on the street makes me uncomfortable in the first place.

In this day in age, it's scary to actually give out your information because of tales of identity theft or what not. It's absolute craziness to just give your credit card number and information to a person on the street no matter the cause. I'm not sure about you, but it really doesn't make any sense to me. I don't care if you give me your license number and badge number as proof, I'd rather have more security when giving the money.

2. The CEO only makes $300,000

Doesn't this amount seem to be a large amount? Yes, I know other CEO's can make millions and there is the fact that the CEO donates $60,000 of that money back. But if you're the CEO or creator of a charity wouldn't you want to donate as much of the money as you can to the cause. I mean I'm sure the CEO doesn't need that much money to support his own family. Again it makes me question where exactly that money goes.

3. Are these guys questioning me paid? Could it be commission based or is it really dictated by passion?

I know that going on the street and trying to get people to donate that way could be a good way to collect donations and pledges but how much exactly do they get from this process. The Children International representative had made a point saying that he didn't understand how we couldn't donate since we gave him the time of day to actually listen to his speech. I mean if me and Krista were one of the only ones that would listen, how many others would actually even stop?

Also, a big point is the fact that these guys have to be compensated somehow. I just wonder how much of the cut that I donate goes directly to these guys...

4. Do they have direct experience with third world countries in need of the donations?

I highly doubt that many of these kids trying to get money for Children International actually have experience with poverty. Yes, that's not necessarily a necessity to fight for a cause but when trying to explain how these kids need it, it seemed like they automatically assumed we were above all that and didn't know how it was like. In fact, Krista lived in the Philippines and knew directly what it was like. I've seen communities in my hometown that are so poor and I've done community work and I've taken classes on poverty, I do have an idea about it.

5. 80% go directly towards the child.

Really? Only 80%? There was also a sliver of percentage that was towards something like if you don't actually continue donating. I didn't understand that part but it was on the paper the representative was showing me. However, mysteriously, it's not on the website. Take a look at the Annual Report from 2008

http://video.children.org/pdf/AnnualReport2008.pdf

This report shows that 80% goes towards the organization, 13% goes towards securing more financial help and 7% goes towards management. However, look at the actual dollar figures on there... $9,543,813 for management and $17,198,994 for securing financial figures. I'm not sure about everyone else, but it seems that these numbers are quite high and can be reduced a bit. I understand that each base might have like 25-30 people working there but shouldn't most of these individuals be working for minimal games and instead dedicating a lot of it towards the cause of helping these children. I'm sure they can reduce that 9.5 million figure down and fun more kids.

Also, for securing financial figures, I think that this amount can definitely go down. I'm unsure of their methods of getting donations, but it would seem this is quite a high number. Even if you advertise in countries all over the world, there are many tv spots that are given out free for charitable causes. In addition, having these teams of people on the street seems sort of a waste of money since they wouldn't have much overall success. I would think that maybe refining their marketing techniques might be a better thing. A better approach could be through working with universities since college students are passionate about causes. I've been at Notre Dame for 4 years and I have not once heard of this organization. For an organization that has been around for more than 70 years, it would seem strange that I don't know anything about it. In addition, Krista lived in the Philippines for a number of years and never heard of them doing anything there.

6. "$22/month doesn't do much, but in three months it definitely pays off"

The representative told us that one time donations aren't usually very effective and that paying on a monthly basis was a better plan. However, when thinking about donations and about the children... doesn't any donation at all help? Even $1 will help out with something rather than not doing a one-time donation. I think the mentality of the program is wrong. It definitely showed when they said that at the three month point you would definitely be helping the child then. I believe at the first donation of $22, you would be helping the child greatly.

7. "If you don't feel comfortable donating out here, we can go in a coffee shop and get a coffee and talk there"

The fact of the matter stands, I don't feel comfortable giving my number to a complete stranger. Besides the money you spend on a coffee can go to funding a child for like 1/4 of a month's donation so why would you even consider doing that?

8. "We have a corporate office here in downtown Chicago"

Seriously? Rent is so expensive for corporate offices in downtown. Why would you have it there? At least put it in the suburbs where it's cheaper. You can donate the rest of the money that you would save. The only reason to do this is only if the city gives you a discount on having that office there. Otherwise this seems like a really bad thing and makes me wonder what they do in other cities.

9. Assumptions made: "Don't you go out to bars all the time, you can save all that money you blow on weekends?"

Why even make assumptions like that? I'm pretty sure if I had told him that I had a father that had just recently passed away and my family was going through financial burdens he would've shut up pretty quickly. I know what it's like to be financially crunched and to be honest, yes I can't spare $22/month because my mom and I are struggling right now. And just so you know, I'm not a typical college kid and I do not go to bars every weekend.

10. $37,771,103 in Current Assets

This kind of goes hand in hand with cutting costs because they seem to high. But the current assets they have also seems kind of high unless they are going to have some kind of big project at the end that costs a lot of money. What really is the purpose of this big sum of money just sitting there. Maybe if they're investing it and gaining interest to donate later on, I can understand. But if it's just sitting there, why not use it for the children right now. It would seem current operating costs are around $26 mil so why can't you just donate $5-$10 mil, you will still have money for expansion and to cover costs.

11. Calling for backup

He recognized that I wasn't going to budge really on my position so he tried to get another lady to come and explain further and try to convince me. I don't get moved by more pressure, only by facts.

I'm not at all saying that this a bad cause and you shouldn't donate to it. But the way I was approached on the street wasn't very positive and made me not want to donate anything at all. For those reasons, I did not end up donating to them. I hope that everyone does a little research before they commit to a charity. Don't just impulsively donate because you never know where your money goes. If you deem a charity good and that your money is going to a good place then by all means donate and help out. But just be careful and research first before committing.